I must confess it took me awhile to master getting my two to sleep properly.  My blog name is the result of many sleep deprived nights.  My boys went through a stage of thinking that 1am was a wonderful time to start the day!  Here are my top tips to help your baby sleep and hopefully help you reclaim your nights and your sanity!!!

To be honest at one point my husband and I were on our last legs.  When you have children, you need your rest.  They syphon your energy and going around in an exhausted fog does you no favours as a parent.  So, we lived and eventually learnt and managed to fine-tune their bedtime routines.  We had to stick with it and eventually our persistence paid off!

Do Your Research

When you’re a new parent everything can feel a bit daunting.  You tend to learn from your new experiences.  But you can speed up the process by going online and swotting up on a topic!  Lots of people have already faced what you have and learnt from it.  You might as well benefit from their knowledge and advice.

Emma’s Diary have lots of tips regarding baby sleep which is an excellent place to start.  Then you can apply your newfound knowledge to your child’s bedtime routine.  Emma’s Diary also helps with other parenting issues like feeding, health and development.  You never have to worry about doing this alone when you have so much online support.

Hang in There

I like that Emma’s Diary list tips in ages because even when you think you have mastered getting them to sleep well, something like teething or growth spurts can impact your routine and set you right back!  So, don’t be disheartened, hang in there and stick with your routine.  Don’t give up if you reach one of those stages, it will pass.

Sleep Environment

You can increase your chances to help the baby sleep by tweaking a few things in their room.  Investing in black out blinds so it stays dark is a great idea.  Make sure the temperature is comfortable, not too hot or cold.  We started using baby sleeping bags as they stayed on our children throughout the night and kept them cosy.  When we tried quilts and blankets, they would manage to kick them off and wake up because they were cold!

Bedtime Routine

This will give your baby cues its time to go to sleep.  So, stick with the same formula every night, even when you don’t think its working.  Be consistent, you might have the odd lapse when your baby tackles some new development but that persistence with eventually pay off!  After their bath, a story, and a goodnight cuddle mean they know sleep is coming next.  Bedtime needs to be calm so children settle down before sleep.  You can play white noise sleep sounds which I have found to work quite well but otherwise speak quietly and soothe them off to sleep.

Avoid Eye Contact

I know this hard when your adorable little bundle is looking at you so lovingly.  But keep the eye contact for the day.  Alan Greene author of From First Kicks to First Steps says eye contact makes a baby more awake as their blood pressure rises and their heart rate speeds up.  So, I can see why that might be best avoided when you want the baby to sleep!